ForeverStrong
by BloodAndStupidity
Summary: Today is the day that the world will learn the meaning of Forever Strong.


**ForeverStrong**

A cold winter wind blew through the streets of Konoha. Everything was silent and there was no one on the streets. The bare branches of the trees swayed in the wind. The only lights were coming from the windows of the houses. Every person, ninja or civilian, were at home, warm, safe and with food in their stomachs. All were home, all except one.

A small boy, no older than five years old, sat huddled next to a trashcan in a dark alley. Blonde spiky hair fell over his sky blue eyes. Blue eyes which were devoid of emotion. Naruto Uzamaki ran a small hand over his eyes, wiping away the last of the many tears he had cried that night. Kicked out of the only place he could call home, the orphanage. His malnourished body demanded food but he just ignored it, and continued looking at the ground with emotionless eyes.

_Why me? Why I' am all alone? Why? _All these questions ran through his head but he couldn't find an answer. Naruto Uzamaki was always smiling, always happy but in the end he was only a child and he was also only human and that didn't change no matter what the villagers called him, and the carefully constructed mask broke when the people at the orphanage had done the unthinkable.

**Flashback start.**

_The sun was just setting and Naruto was seen running through the streets towards the orphanage. Reaching the front door, he was about to open it when suddenly someone else opened it. A woman wearing a plain brown yukata stood there, without a word the woman grabbed Naruto by the arm and dragged him to the backyard of the orphanage. Naruto sensed something wrong and tried to yank his arm out of the woman's iron grip, but it was all in vain. _

"_Where are you taking me?" Naruto yelled still struggling._

_The woman stopped and raised her hand…SMACK!_

"_Quiet, you filthy excuse for a human." She said turning around and continued walking._

_Tears welled up in Naruto's eyes as he let the woman drag him, one hand covering the red hand imprint on his cheek. When they got to the backyard there was a large tub of water laying in the middle with a man in a bird mask standing over it._

"_Is the criminal?" The man asked the woman._

"_Yes, it is." She replied handing Naruto over to him._

"_Thank you, Yolei san; you are doing a great favor to the people of Konoha." He replied as he gagged and tied Naruto._

_Then it began._

_For the next fifty-three minutes, Naruto's head was repeatedly dunked into the tub of water. The water was ice cold. Naruto tried to struggle but the man was holding him to tight. He tried to scream but the gag made it very difficult. So all Naruto could do was let the man dunk his head again and again. The water invaded his lungs, he tried to cough it up but the gag got in the way. _

_Please let it stop. Please let it stop. Please. Naruto begged in his head, his innocence dieing with each dunk. That is all he thought for the next fifty-three minutes. The next fifty-three minutes that changed the very core of his existence._

**Flashback end.**

After that he was thrown out on the street, with a clear warning not to come back to the orphanage. Ever. Naruto had gotten up and stumbled into the dark alley and he had been sitting there for the last few hours. Looking up, Naruto saw a shooting star and suddenly remembered something he had heard a while ago.

_**For every shooting star you see, that means that somebody out there loves you.**_

As Naruto remembered that, he thought of all the things he had to be subjected to everyday. The insults, the shunning, the beatings. Everything had finally become too much for Naruto. Eyes hardened in resolve so strong that nothing could stand in its way.

Standing up, Naruto's mouth set into a foxy grin.

How gives shit if no one in Konoha cared about him, there was an entire world out there and there were people out there. Hopefully people who cared about him. Naruto stood up and headed towards the gates of Konoha. Once he had snuck passed the guards and had made it in to the safety of the forest, Naruto slowed down to a walk. Eyes shone with the determination of accomplishing a goal. Not once did Naruto turn his head, no backwards glance, no hesitation, nothing. And that day was the day that the world started understanding the meaning of Forever Strong.


End file.
